Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/03/2025
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The Global SDG Synthesis Coalition is a core partner in a new initiative called the Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative. They are gearing up a planning process that will begin in mid-January and run through the end of June, with some behind-the-scenes work continuing for another six weeks. The planning process will involve several working groups and one governance planning group, each of which will have a ‘planning analyst’ assigned to it to support its work.
The Coalition are now looking to identify a few young evaluators who have at least some experience with, and with an ongoing interest in, evidence synthesis, who are from the Global South. Here are the role details:
- Details about the role, which is primarily a designer and executor of high-level analytical tasks
- Undertake rapid research/analytical projects, including:
- identify, assess, extract insights from and synthesize actionable messages from evidence syntheses addressing aspects of the focus area (e.g., governance models for collective-impact initiatives)
- identify and document key attributes of completed, in-progress and newly funded projects addressing aspects of the focus area (e.g., developing AI tools for use in evidence synthesis)
- conduct key-informant interviews with the leaders of initiatives addressing aspects of the focus area (e.g., leaders of organizations with significant evidence-synthesis-derived data holdings to identify barriers and facilitators to data sharing and reusing, and elements of a workable funding model)
- Contribute to drafting the five documents, ensuring that they reflect the analyses that have been undertaken and are each prepared by their corresponding due date
- Attend and contribute to deliberations in all virtual meetings of the group
- Attend and contribute to deliberations in the two face-to-face meetings (travel expenses will be covered)
- London from March 12-13 (where additional analytical tasks are likely to be identified)
- Cape Town from June 24-26, bracketed by a preparatory meeting on 23 June and a next-steps planning meeting on 27 June [Required]
- Attend and contribute to deliberations in any key virtual consultations organized by the broader facilitation group
- Work with the planning clerk and administrative officer supporting their focus area and formally report to the planning program manager
2. Details about the attributes of a successful planning analyst
- Experience working under tight timelines and high performance expectations to design, execute and write succinct summaries of research/analytical projects
- Experience with a broad range of methods (e.g., evidence synthesis, data analytics, qualitative research) and with ‘rapid’ versions of these methods
- Highly knowledgeable of at least one focus area of the group being supported:
| Groups | Focus |
| WG2: Data sharing and reusing | Make it normal to study a question once and use the answers many times in many different contexts |
| WG3: Safe and responsible use of AI | Bring evidence synthesis to the forefront of technology so that we can get the best impact from the people and resources we have |
| WG4: Methods & process innovation | Devise synthesis methods and processes that enable radically more timely, relevant, and affordable synthesis |
| WG5: Capacity sharing | Build a global community with the capabilities to deliver and use evidence synthesis across all major societal questions |
- Familiar with the ways in which evaluations, research evidence and other types of information can inform government policymaking (as well as decision-making by organizational leaders, professionals and citizens), with the role of evidence intermediaries (e.g., science advisors and evidence-support units), and with evidence synthesis and other forms of evidence that may draw upon or be captured in evidence syntheses (e.g., modeling, be-sci)
- Experience working as part of a bigger team
- Excited by the prospect of playing a key role in driving a step-change improvement in the global evidence architecture
- Able to work full-time and remotely throughout the process – starting as soon as possible and certainly by the end of January, and concluding in mid-to-late July – and to attend the two face-to-face meetings, with one in London(March 12-13) and one in Cape Town (June 23-27, inclusive of a preparatory day and wrap-up day)
3. Other considerations
- We are looking for individuals who have worked in research, evaluation or evidence-support units that have a strong track record of delivering high quality work, on schedule, in the focus area and in related focus areas.
- We have decided to broaden our search – given the significant demands of the role – to include people with 5-15 years of work experience (i.e., mid-career, not just early career), ideally including rapid approaches to research, evaluation, etc.
- Our aim is for each individual will come from the Global South with some regional balance.
- This position comes with a remuneration of £30,000 (GBP), in addition to covering travel expenses.
The application deadline is 15 January, however the applications will remain open until all positions for each of the working groups are filled.
For those interested in applying, prepare your CVs and cover letter (outlining your motivation, commitment, experience and how are you best fit for the position), and fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Xx29RR442eAFFrkH8